I am fifty-something, well travelled, and I will happily tell you that one of the most fascinating thing I have done in London this year involves Victorian sewage. That is not a sentence I expected to write, but here we are.
Crossness Pumping Station sits out in Thamesmead, in the southeast corner of London, and it is nicknamed the cathedral of sewage. I went along not entirely sure what to expect. I came out telling everyone I know that they need to go too.
What Is Crossness Pumping Station?
Crossness was built in 1865 by the engineer Sir Joseph Bazalgette as part of his solution to one of London’s biggest crises. In the mid-1800s, London’s population had exploded, and the city’s waste was going more or less straight into the Thames. In the brutally hot summer of 1858, the smell became so bad that it was known as the Great Stink, and it finally forced the city to act. Bazalgette designed a vast new sewerage network to carry London’s waste away from the city, and Crossness was built as the southern outfall, the point where it was pumped up and out into the river.
What makes Crossness remarkable is that the Victorians did not just build something functional. They built something beautiful. The station is Grade I listed, and it is famous for its ornamental cast ironwork, painted in rich Victorian colours that would not look out of place in a grand church. It is one of the most unexpected buildings I have been inside in London.
What Happens on a Guided Tour
Crossness is not open to the public every day. It opens only on selected dates, either as a Steaming Day, when the restored beam engine actually runs, or as a smaller guided tour, which is what I booked. On a guided tour the beam engine does not steam, but you still get the full story and access to every part of the site, led by one of the volunteers.
The visit starts with check in, then moves into the Great Stink exhibition, which sets the scene for everything you are about to see. There is a genuinely brilliant display of historic toilets in here, including an original Thomas Crapper, and some of them are surprisingly ornate for something whose job was, well, exactly what you think.
From there, you sit down for a short film, around fifteen minutes long, that explains how London’s population boom and that dreadful summer of 1858 forced the city into action. It is a good, clear introduction, and it means that by the time you are walking through the actual buildings, you understand why they exist.
There is also a model demonstration that shows you, quite literally, how the whole system works, from flushing a toilet through to where the waste ends up. It sounds like it should be dry. It is not. The volunteers clearly love what they do, and the whole tour has this lovely balance of proper historical detail and genuine humour running through it.
The Octagon: The Moment That Blew Me Away
Once you have your hard hat and glasses on, you head into the boiler room, and this is where the tour earns its cathedral of sewage nickname. Right in the middle of it is the Octagon, and it is jaw dropping. Soaring arches, that unmistakable church-like feel, and in the middle of it all the giant restored beam engines, surrounded by the same colourful ironwork you will have spotted from outside.
I have visited a lot of grand buildings over the years, but I was not prepared for how moving it is to stand in a sewage pumping station and think about the sheer effort the Victorians put into making it beautiful. This was not a building anyone was supposed to see. It was infrastructure. And yet they gave it beautiful arches and hand painted ironwork anyway. That says something about the pride they took in solving a genuinely life or death problem for the city, and you can feel that pride in the room.
It has also been used as a filming location for a long list of TV shows and films, which makes sense when you are standing in it.
From the boiler room you head up to the top floor for a closer look at the machinery and a good view back down over the Octagon, before finishing at the on-site Ness Café for a drink. It is a functional little café rather than a destination in its own right, with the usual tea, coffee, soft drinks, sandwiches and crisps, but it is a welcome stop after a couple of hours on your feet.
Is Crossness Easy to Get Around?
I would call myself reasonably fit, and I found the visit entirely manageable, but it is worth knowing what you are in for. There is normally a little volunteer built railway, the RANG railway, that carries you the short distance from the car park to the pumping station itself. It was not running the day I visited, which meant a flat but genuinely a bit longer walk than I expected, around five to ten minutes each way. It is flat ground the whole way, so it is not strenuous, just more walking than you might assume from the name of the place.
Inside, there are some stairs up into the boiler room and up to the top floor, but climbing them is not compulsory, so it is a site that can flex around different mobility levels. Do check ahead if you have specific accessibility needs, since it is a working historic industrial building rather than a purpose-built modern museum.
How to Book and What It Costs
This is the bit that catches people out. Crossness only runs around four guided tours a month, alongside occasional Steaming Days and special events, and they sell out. I booked online about six weeks in advance and would genuinely recommend building that kind of lead time into your plans if there is a specific date you want.
Booking itself is straightforward through the official Crossness Pumping Station website, where you can see the calendar and book directly. At the time of writing, adult tickets are £20.37, or £22.50 if you add Gift Aid, with children aged five to seventeen at £7.19 or £8.00 with Gift Aid, and under fives going free. Do check the site for current pricing before you book, as with any small charity run attraction, this can change.
One thing worth knowing: the free vintage bus that runs from Abbey Wood station operates on Steaming Days and special events, but not on standard guided tours, so budget in that short walk or a five minute Uber from the station instead.
Getting There
The nearest station is Abbey Wood, which sits on the Elizabeth line, so it is a easy journey from central London. From the station it is either around a thirty minute walk or a five minute Uber to the site itself.
My Verdict
I went into Crossness expecting a curiosity and came out having had one of the most interesting couple of hours I have spent in London. It completely changed how I think about something as basic as flushing a toilet, and the Octagon alone is worth the trip out to Thamesmead. If you like getting properly under the skin of a place, rather than ticking off the obvious sights, this is exactly the kind of unusual, brilliantly niche experience that makes London worth exploring again and again, no matter how many times you have visited.
Book early, wear shoes you can walk in, and go in with an open mind. You will come out talking about sewage with the same enthusiasm I clearly now have.
Amanda O’Brien is the creator and editor of The Boutique Adventurer. She has visited 80 countries and is a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers as well as the IFTWTA. She is passionate about wine had has just completed Level 3 of the WSET. Born in Australia, she lives in London.